Extra points: Louisville's Kevin Ware was all about the team after injury

Datsyuk, Verlander exchange tweets

April 4, 2013

Timothy D. Easley/AP

Twitter.com

Louisville's Kevin Ware said he will be in Atlanta -- he has been cleared to travel with Rick Pitino's team to the Final Four -- and he will be back on a basketball court someday.

"After we win the national championship, I'm just looking forward to rehab," he said Wednesday, talking publically for the first time about the horrendous broken leg he suffered Sunday against Duke.

"Honestly, I just thought it was my ankle or something," Ware said in a tearful interview on ESPN.

"Coach P, kind of like gave it away. He went to help me up, he glanced at my leg, and his eyes just got huge. ... I kind of looked down at my leg, and it's automatic shock."

But Ware said he held in his own tears and reassured his crying teammates and Pitino.

"If I wouldn't have said what I said and telling them, 'I'm gonna be fine,' I really don't think we'd be in the Final Four," Ware said. "I really don't. ...

"Coach P is right there, I'm looking him dead in the eyes, I said it probably 15 times, 'Coach, I'm gonna be good. You just gotta win this game.' "

And Ware said "that was the only thing going through my head" as they took him out of the arena. "I honestly wasn't concerned about the injury. I kind of felt like if that was the last time I played basketball, I left my mark."

And when a groggy Ware woke up in his hospital room following surgery, Pitino was there with the Midwest Regional trophy.

"It brought tears to my eyes, honestly," Ware said. "It was one of the greatest feelings of my life."

Datsyuk: Verlander breaks the bank

Two of Detroit's wealthy young athletes had a Twitter exchange this week:

• Pavel Datsyuk: "@JustinVerlander congrats on the new contract! Mr. Ilitch spent all his money. Nothing left for me ;-)."

And in addition to that winking emoticon, Datsyuk even included a picture of the piggy bank below.

• Verlander: "@Datsyuk13 haha. Thanks man. Dinner is on me."

• Little Caesars: "We know a great pizza place where you guys can eat."

Yeah, exactly how many Hot-N-Readys does $180 million buy?

Join us for a live blog of the Michigan-Syracuse Final Four game Saturday night at freep.com/sports.